Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter July 6,2011

Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
July 6, 2011

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My long-term audio horoscopes are still available. There's more information about them below.

Whether or not you want to tune in to those Big Picture reports for the rest of 2011, you may be interested in reviewing the long-term horoscopes I wrote for you last December and January.

To check in with the predictions I made for you at the beginning of the year, go here: bit.ly/BigPicture2011

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WHAT'S AHEAD FOR YOU in the next six months?

To hear my IN-DEPTH, LONG-TERM AUDIO FORECAST for YOUR LIFE between now and January 2012, go here:

RealAstrology.com

Log in through the main page, and then click on the link "Long Term Forecast for Second Half of 2011."

What areas of your life are likely to receive unexpected assistance and divine inspiration?

Where are the prime sources of motivation that will be welling up from your depths?

How can you best cooperate with the cosmic rhythms?

Where are you likely to find most success?

Tune in.

You can also listen to your short-term forecast for the coming week by clicking on "This week (July 5, 2011)."

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The piece below is excerpted from my book
PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA
available at Amazon: bit.ly/Pronoia
or Powells: bit.ly/PronoiaPowells

ECSTATIC STUDY GUIDE, Part 5

Strategies for plying a chronic, low-key, blissful union with everything you're not

1. "If everything seems under control," said auto racer Mario Andretti, "you're probably not moving fast enough." I second that emotion. It applies to the entire human race, which is swirling through evolutionary tipping points at an accelerating speed. But it's doubly apropos for you spiritual freedom fighters and renegade bodhisattvas, because you're the vanguard shock troops fighting to merge heaven with earth.

For your edification and amusement, we will add three corollaries to Andretti's wisdom: 1. If you're not pretty much always half-confused, most likely you're not thinking deeply enough. 2. If you're not feeling forever amazed, maybe you're not seeing wildly enough. 3. The truth is fluid, slippery, vagrant, scrambled, promiscuous, kaleidoscopic, and outrageously abundant.

How might you go about using these tricks to marinate yourself in a gentle state of ecstasy pretty much all the time?

2. "Take time to stop and smell the flowers," says an old homily. Albert Hoffman, the Swiss scientist who discovered LSD and lived to age 102, had a different approach. "Take the time to stop and be the flowers," he said.

That's my advice to you. Don't just set aside a few stolen moments to sniff the snapdragons, taste the rain, chase the wind, watch the hummingbirds, and listen to a friend. Use your imagination to actually be the snapdragons and rain and wind and hummingbirds and friend. Don't just behold the Other; become the Other.

3. Question: Which part of you is too tame, overcivilized, and super-domesticated, and what are you going to do about it?

Answer, from a reader named Jason R.: "I was like a mole in a suburban backyard. I had just one little path I trod each day: to the compost pile and back. I chewed on orange rinds and leftover cabbage. I was tamed by the comfort of my familiar environment, content to have a narrow vision. But then I was eaten by a hawk, and became part of a wild, free body. Now I perch on the tops of trees and the peaks of roofs. I survey giddy-wide horizons, from the river to the mesa and far beyond. I have a wealth of choices. Where to fly? What to hunt? Who are my allies? My thoughts breathe deep, like the slow explosion of sun on the morning lake."

How would you answer the same question?

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MORE PRONOIA RESOURCES:

EXPANDING OUR MINDS ABOUT WHAT'S NATURAL
Donating retired subway trains to the little-known cause of creating artificial reefs.
tinyurl.com/634anz6

GLIMMERS OF TRUE PATRIOTISM
USAA, CVS Caremark, Costco, UnitedHealth Group and Berkshire Hathaway are among the few multi-billion dollar American corporations that actually pay their fair share of taxes and don't hide their money offshore.
tinyurl.com/3h6wve7

EVERYTHING CAN BE FRESH
New Rules: Consider everything an experiment . . . .
tinyurl.com/ytaooj

(Note: I endorse these because I like them. They are not advertisements, and I get no kickbacks.)

Please tell me your own personal nominations for PRONOIA RESOURCES.

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning July 7

Copyright 2011 by Rob Brezsny
FreeWillAstrology.com

CANCER (June 21-July 22):

While listening to the sound collage radio program "Over the Edge" on KPFA, I learned that a new primary color has been detected. Quite different from red, yellow, or blue, it has its own distinct hue that's impossible to describe. You really have to see it to appreciate its essence. The discoverer of this marvel is Dr. Wohan Squant, who has named the color "squant." (Full details here: bit.ly/Squant.) I wish I could predict you're about to create or find something equally revolutionary, Cancerian, but I can't go quite that far. Nevertheless, you've entered a phase when you have the power to tinker with and even transform fundamental laws of your universe. So who knows? Maybe you're on the verge of a shift almost as revolutionary as the discovery of squant.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):

Are you feeling the sting of disappointment, railing at life for reneging on one of its promises to you? Are you in the throes of unleashing a great accusation, suffering the twisty ache that comes from having your pet theories disproved? Maybe you should consider the possibility that you are simply getting an opportunity to correct a misunderstanding -- that life isn't being mean to you and you're not being punished. I'd like to propose that you are, in fact, in the first phase of your healing. Listen to Bengali writer Rabindranath Tagore: "We read the world wrong and say that it deceives us."

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

"The more one dwells on oneself," says psychoanalyst Adam Phillips in his book Going Sane, "the more one is likely to suffer." He thinks people need encouragement to avoid excessive introspection. "My project as a psychoanalyst," he writes, "is to free them to not have to think about their lives so much." While I feel he overstates the case, I do suspect his message would be good for you to heed in the coming weeks. For maximum success and robust mental health, take a generous portion of your attention off yourself and focus it on living your life with compassion, curiosity, and concern for others.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)::

"One must choose in life between boredom and suffering," proclaimed author Madame de Staël (1766-1817). I beg to differ with her, however. As evidence, I present the course of your life during the next few weeks. After analyzing the astrological omens, I expect you will consistently steer a middle course between boredom and suffering, being able to enjoy some interesting departures from the routine that don't hurt a bit. There may even be pain-free excursions into high adventure mixed in, along with a fascinating riddle that taxes your imagination in rather pleasurable ways.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):

I accompanied a friend and his family to a small fairgound where a local school was having a fundraiser. There were rides and games for younger kids. Right away we came to a challenging activity that involved climbing a ladder made out of rubber and coated with some slippery substance. One girl, about seven years old, was having a moment of rowdy bliss as she tried to ascend. "It's impossible -- but fun!" she cried out to her mom. Your assignment in the coming week is to find an adventure like that: one that's impossible but fun.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

"It is not always needful for truth to take a definite shape," wrote Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. "It is enough if it hovers about us like a spirit and produces harmony; if it is wafted through the air like the sound of a bell, grave and kindly." With this quote, I'm alerting you to the fact that a new truth is now floating into your world, Sagittarius. It'll be misty and sparkly, yet somehow also decisive and lucid. It will comfort you and yours, but also be a bit shocking. It will be sharply tonic, like good, strong medicine that has a pungent yet oddly delicious flavor you've never tasted before.

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WHAT'S TO COME?
BRAINSTORM ABOUT THE BIG PICTURE OF YOUR LIFE

with my Expanded Audio Horoscopes for the Second Half of 2011:
RealAstrology.com

What will be the story of your life during the rest of 2011? How can you exert your free will to create the adventures that'll bring out the best in you, even as you find graceful ways to cooperate with the tides of destiny?

If you'd like a high-octane boost of inspiration to fuel you in your quest for beauty and truth and love and justice and meaning, tune in to my meditations on your long-term outlook.

Go here:
RealAstrology.com

Log in and click on the link "Long Term Forecast for Second Half of 2011"

You can also listen to your short-term forecast for the coming week by clicking on "This week (July 5, 2011)."

"Your Expanded Audio Horoscopes provide me with the Rest of the Story. I'm not necessarily a believer in the scientific accuracy of astrology, but I do think you've got a lot of practical wisdom to impart." - M. Tennenbaum, New York

"No one knows more about me than me. But you're right up there near the top of the list of people who do understand something about how I tick. How is that possible?" - R. Goren, Albuquerque

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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):

If there were a useful website with the domain name AmIAGoodPersonOrNot.com, I would advise you to go check it out. The same is true if there were websites like AmIAuthenticOrNot.com, AmIYummyOrNot.com, AmIEnlightenedOrNot.com, or AmIAGorgeousGeniusOrNot.com. What I'm trying to tell you, Capricorn, is that this would be an excellent time for you to find out more about yourself from objective sources -- or any other kind of sources, for that matter. Solicit feedback, my beautiful darling. Ask for updates on how you're doing.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

Ninety-six percent of all adults say they would change something about their appearance if they could. That statistic is one factor that leads philosopher Jonathan Zap to make this observation: "Suffering associated with body image has reached such epidemic proportions in our culture that it must be counted as one of the greatest spiritual plagues ever to be visited upon mankind." That's the bad news, Aquarius. The good news is that the coming months will be an excellent time for learning to be at more peace with how you look. I invite you to formulate a three-point plan that will help you come to a perspective in which you will love your body exactly the way it is.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

On her website Reuniting.info, Marnia Robinson reported on a discovery she made that may be useful to you. Wandering around a county fair, she went to a reptile exhibit where she encountered an animal trainer who had an alligator resting serenely on his lap. She asked him why the creature was so well-behaved. "I pet it daily," he said. "If I didn't, it would quickly be wild again, and wouldn't allow this." Apply that lesson in your own life, Pisces. Bestow regular tenderness and loving touch to the feral, untamed, primitive influences in your life -- including any that may reside within you.

ARIES (March 21-April 19):

It's my observation that women find it easier than men to tune into their natural rhythms. The menstrual cycle helps cultivate that ability. We men experience less dramatic physical shifts, and that seems to give us license to override messages from our bodies for the sake of ambition, laziness, or convenience. Having acknowledged that, I must say that I know men who are highly sensitive and responsive to somatic cues, and women who aren't. Whatever gender you are, I believe that in the coming weeks it's crucial for you to be acutely aware of what's going on inside your beloved flesh-and-blood vehicle. This is one time when you need to be intimately aligned with its needs.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):

One of the greatest kings of the ancient Persian Sassanid Empire was Shapur II (309-379). Shortly after his father died, he was made king while still in his mother's womb. Since he could not yet wear his crown, officials set it upon his mother's pregnant belly. He ruled from then until the day he died, 70 years later. I'm naming him your patron saint for the second half of 2011, Taurus. My sense is that the seed of some great accomplishment is already germinating within you. It may take a while to be fully born, but I suggest we consecrate its bright future now.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

I've got no problem with the real world. I spend a lot of time there, enjoy its chewy riddles, and take it quite seriously. But I also consider myself a militant lobbyist for all the Other Worlds -- the domain of everything that's invisible to the naked eye and irrelevant to the schemes of the rational ego. These alternate realities consist of the unconscious, the dreamtime, the spiritual sphere, the intelligence of nature, and the realm of the ancestors. In my astrological opinion, you're due for a major upgrade in your relationship with these dimensions in the next 12 months. Now would be a good time to get started.

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HOMEWORK:

Say "I love you" at least 15 times a day for the next seven days. Report your results to Freewillastrology.com.

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Submissions sent to the Free Will Astrology Weekly Newsletter or in response to "homework assignments" may be published in a variety of formats at Rob Brezsny's discretion, including but not limited to newsletters, books, the Free Will Astrology column, and Free Will Astrology website. We reserve the right to edit such submissions for length, style, and content. Requests for anonymity will be honored with submissions; otherwise, reader names, screen names, or initials will be used. Please be sure to note your preference when sending to us. We are not responsible for unsolicited submission of any creative material.

Contents of the Free Will Astrology Newsletter are Copyright 2011 Rob Brezsny

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